Saturday, January 19, 2008

A Belated Happy New Year

I hope everyone had a lovely festive season as well as new year. We certainly did. J and A spoiled me rotten with loads of yummy pressies, Mum and Dad bought me a lamp alarm clock thing....basically wakes you up (and sends you to sleep) with 'natural' light, so should help with SAD(along with my self help of having a 20min or so 'hobble' in daylight every day). My sis bought me a lovely fleecy throw that zips and buttons into a sleeping bag! As she said I can use it for when I feel like curling up on the sofa....which I've been doing a lot of recently as I've had THE cold that's affecting everyone at work and it's left me with laryngitis and no voice at all!!!! I got lots of lovely cards and pressies from my mates too! Thank you all very much.New year was fun as J and I went to see St Trinians at the cinema which was great.

On the knitting front:-I've still not blocked MWI've finished MS6 and that needs blocking too!Finished knitting the polka dot gloves, they took ages as I'm not used to colour work, just need to sew buttons and finger 'hats' on.Started Spring Shawl Surprise in 1ply weight yarn and ended up restarting in a thicker yarn. So finished clue 2 today and hope to have clue 3 done before Tuesday and then I'm caught up.Need to start SoSii which I'm using a alpaca/wool blend from Forsells (I've been very good and already swatched).I ended ripping Branching Out completely. I loved the yarn and colour but the pattern was doing nothing for me. So the beautiful cash/silk is sitting in my cupboard waiting for just the right project.

My Knitting new years resolutions are(as required by UK swap)1. Get over my mind block of fine laceweight/cobweb yarn.I really don't know why I get this. I never seem to have trouble with instructions...give me any pattern and I'm away, but fine yarn er...no......any suggestions will be welcome regarding this matter! I've already thought about knitting a no-brainer shawl to give me a bit of confidence?2. Finish any UFO's.....I've only got 2 garments to finish, so I think I'll pick those up soon as I'm sure to get 'laced out' soon seeing as I've joined 5, yes 5! KAL's

I borrowed Chris' Drum Carder a few weeks ago. What a difference this has made! It still takes the same amount of time to card fleece but with much less effort! So I've asked my family for donations to the 'Mel would really like to buy an Ashford drum carder' fund for my birthday...which is only a week on Tuesday....sssqqquuuueeeeeeee!(Photos when the light gets better)

1 comment:

Hi Mel,I hope your cold is getting better, especially with 5 knitalongs to keep up with LOL. I really struggle with the very fine yarn too. My MW is only half done using Forsells 2 ply. I have to take a lot of care with every stitch if they're going to stay on the needles (Addi lace). I've decided that I'd rather enjoy the knitting using thicker yarn, than struggle with the fine stuff.Sue